Why, @ClarinetDad16? What exactly makes it a “dealbreaker” for your kid?
Doesn’t it matter WHY “most kids” aren’t graduating in four years, which is really measuring four straight years? Is it a “problem” for your son that mine will take five years to graduate because he’s doing a co-op? It’s not like he’s paying for that fifth year.
Sorry, I just don’t get it. I mean, if that’s a priority for you, then knock yourself out. But I’m guessing you’ll need to focus on private schools or very selective public ones. As of a couple of years ago, it was something like 19 percent of full-time public university students earning a bachelor’s degree in four years, with only 36% of those at state flagship universities (selective, research-intensive institutions) doing so. UA’s four-year graduation rate is right in line with that number at 39%. (Temple, which you cited earlier, is just slightly higher at 41%.)
And aren’t public universities typically judged by six-year graduation rates, since many who attend them can’t afford to go for four continuous years?
Carnegie Mellon had gender neutral housing when I was there, but it meant the bathroom was in our three-person dorm room. The room next door was our RA (a girl), and the room next to that was three guys, and the room across from that was two guys. It was basically like an apartment building without kitchens in the apartments.
That’s a big difference to me versus the big gym style co-ed bathrooms that are the dealbreaker for me.
One gender AT A TIME bathrooms are fine, as well (like is the setup at home-if my husband’s doing his thing in there, I don’t go in).
We don’t live in a mcmansion, but we do live in a newer house (built 2007) where land is cheap, so you’re looking at houses with all en-suite bathrooms starting around 250k here.
“Wow everyone hear thinks no problem sharing coed bathrooms and showers. What’s next coed roommates.”
Lots of colleges have gender neutral rooms now. Every room at my son’s college is gender neutral except rooms designated for freshman only. And there are two small houses which are single sex. My son’s roommate his senior year was female.
Good point. I am sure as the world continues to see things as gender neutral and the gender you identify with is more important that the plumbing you were given. I will stick with the original design option. If somebody fully transforms their gender then they get to switch sides.
@moooop You didn’t so specify. You only mentioned co-ed bathrooms as if the concept would be unheard of for the vast majority of people. Single sex bathrooms are often shared by 40 strangers. Do a lot of kids have experience with those at home too?
His personal chance of graduating in four years is not likely to differ much between the two schools, unless there is some other factor (e.g. if he would be more likely to do co-op at one school versus the other).
If he can get into a school with an 80+% four year graduation rate, he is likely a student with a good high school academic record who is very likely to graduate in four years (or eight school semesters if one were to account for co-ops and the like). Of course, the school with a 44% four year graduation rate is likely to be an admission safety for him, so he may disdain it for other reasons (e.g. prestige and rankings) like many students, who are more likely to choose to attend their reaches over their safeties.
When I went to college, coed dorm floors had coed bathrooms. These were gang bathrooms with multiple sinks, toilets, and showers (but the toilets and showers were enclosed, not open as one sees in old-style locker rooms), and there was one bathroom on each floor. Presumably, coed floors were more popular with students, since few actually chose single-gender floors in the dorm room preference surveys (coed bathrooms were disclosed on the surveys).
Gender-neutral housing is also good for gay kids, who may feel more comfortable rooming with someone from another gender.
BTW, common shower like at some gyms is always, as far as I know, single-sex (except perhaps in Wes’ clothing-optional dorm ). The only bathrooms which are co-ed have enclosed stalls, typically with partitions and doors, and often a little changing area where you can hang your clothes or bathrobe/towel. However, sinks tend to be out in the open, so if brushing your teeth or combing your hair in front of another gender is a problem, then yes co-ed bathrooms would be a problem.
I know that the bathroom situation is a deal-breaker for many kids, especially those who have lived with their own bathroom or a kids’ bathroom (vs. a family bathroom shared by all in the family).
Someone upthread mentioned rape with co-ed bathrooms. This doesn’t sound very rational, more a parent’s fear than an actual situation to be concerned about.
My kid’s school has “gender inclusive” bathrooms in some dorms and on some floors. Students can choose to have rooms on floors with them or not, so IMO it’s not a big deal.
So seriously… are you asking on the tour or in the info session if any of the housing options on campus have co-ed bathrooms? Or if they are banned even if the dorm halls decide to make them co-ed for convenience? I bet you would cross 90% of the colleges in the US off your list if you said, “No co-ed bathrooms in any campus housing”. But honestly, you have no way to know. I bet they can’t even answer this question with certainty in most admissions offices.
That entirely depends on how you define “on time.” For many students, taking five years to graduate in order to complete a co-op placement trumps graduating in four years. And if the funds are in place, and the student doesn’t require remediation (the main reasons students extend their time in college), the issue is moot for the most part anyway.
Frankly, any big state flagship that didn’t at least offer the option of a co-op program for engineers would have been a “deal breaker” for us unless they could pretty much guarantee paid internships.
I can certainly understand being concerned about a student graduating in four years if he’s in the bottom quartile of admitted students or he’s someone who historically hasn’t followed through on the goals he set for himself, but anyone who qualifies for a full tuition scholarship at pretty much any school is unlikely to be of any greater risk of taking more than four years to graduate than he would be at any school, including a highly selective one with high four-year graduation rates.
). The only bathrooms which are co-ed have enclosed stalls, typically with partitions and doors, and often a little changing area where you can hang your clothes or bathrobe/towel. However, sinks tend to be out in the open, so if brushing your teeth or combing your hair in front of another gender is a problem, then yes co-ed bathrooms would be a problem.